In which our Hero rids himself of trash

I finally got my garbage out on the right day! There is a sign in my house telling me the noncombustible trash gets taken every 2 weeks on Wednesday, yet the trash only gets taken on the second Wednesday of the month. This is a big difference. I found this out accidentally, this morning, when I ran into my neighbor. He gave me the good news that the garbage did go out today, and was able to put mine out for the first time since I moved in! It doesn’t smell because it is clean garbage, but it was getting out of hand…

Sitting in the teacher’s room, waiting for the kids to arrive, is the worst part of the job. I never know if they will actually come to get me or not, because they arrive at a specific time, just whenever the teacher sends them for me. I was supposed to have a class at second period today, but the kids never came to get me. I then thought I might have class at third period, even though the schedule said I didn’t.

I did go out and play with the kids during recess! We played dodgeball! I got taken out about half way through, but the fun wasn’t over yet. In this school, they play a little differently than I remember dodgeball being played. We you get hit you move from your side of the court to the area behind the opposing team. When you team members throw, and the ball gets past the opposing team, you are now in the position to control the ball and attack the backs of your opponents. This adds some more hysteria to already hyper active game dynamics.

Third period arrived, along with two kids to summon me to class. Third period class was the same as first period class as far as concepts to learn. Today was school supplies. In Japan, a stapler is called a hotchkiss. The class started off well enough, but we hit a snag when we tried to play a game. The kids got in groups of four and one hid three school supply items under a towel while the other three closed their eyes. The three would then open their eyes and ask basic questions about the items under the towel. When all three items were guessed, the towel would switch to a different student and they would start again. I found out pretty quickly they didn’t know all the vocab yet, but they were still having fun, so we played for a little while and I went around and helped them remember the right words. Towards the end of class I wrote the vocab on the board in katakana and romaji, and drew pictures as well. Then we went over and over the vocab, erased the katakana, then went over the vocab again. They got it! I taught!

Fourth period was animals. We spent all period learning animal names and playing bingo.

The lunch lady made some more arrangements for the guests we had at school today:

Lunch time came and it was tasty as usual. After lunch, I walked home and got a change of clothes. When I was done teaching at the junior high, I was going to learn break-dancing!

I got to junior high and the teachers were running around trying to look busy. They were having a visit from someone who I think was the superintendent. I was ushered into a class and I helped teach, while waiting for the superintendent to observe the class. He popped in for less than a minute, then left. I found out later that he was mainly looking at the face of the teachers to see if they still enjoyed being at this school. Horie-sensei told me teachers only teach at a school for six years, and they only teach in the same city for ten years. There are ten teachers who have been at this school for six years, so next April, six or seven of them will be transferred. I told Horie-sensei I really liked this junior high and that I wanted to teach here again next April. She told me the other teachers like me and want me to stay as well!

There is some confusion this week about my schedule. Usually I teach at the junior high on Fridays but this week I was scheduled to teach at the elementary. That would be okay, except I have classes scheduled at the junior high for Friday. I received my lesson plan from the elementary school and they don’t have me scheduled for classes on Friday. I think the schedule I have that puts me at the wrong school has a typo. I told the VP at the elementary about the typo, just to make sure, and he told me to work the elementary on Friday because the junior high was having some sports exhibitions so there would be no class. I told the VP at the junior high about the typo and he said I should teach my classes at the junior high on Friday. I told him the elementary school wanted me but didn’t have a lesson plan for me, while I did have one for the junior high, and he said he would call the elementary school and straighten it out. We’ll see what happens tomorrow.

I began learning to break-dance with a couple of the students today. We have a lot of work to do but it is fun and good for the body.

Lunch time silliness